Alex sat in the back of the physics classroom. It was raining against the window.
Mr. Harrison was drawing a diagram of a rocket on the whiteboard.
"Escape velocity," Mr. Harrison said. "The speed needed to break free from gravity. If you go too slow... you fall back down. If you go fast enough... you fly forever."
Alex wrote it down in his notebook.
Escape velocity.
He liked that. It sounded like Mark.
"Mr. Finch?"
Alex looked up.
"Are you calculating the trajectory of a rocket, or a football?" Mr. Harrison asked.
"Both, sir," Alex smiled. "They follow the same laws."
"Good answer," the teacher said. "Just make sure your homework lands on my desk, not in the top corner."
School finished. Alex walked out.
The rain had stopped. The air was cold.
Mark was waiting.
He was not in a car. He was not on a bike.
He was standing next to a... sled.
A bobsled. On wheels.
It was painted bright silver. It looked like a bullet.
